NEWSLETTER OF THE OPTOMETRIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY (243 North Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri Vol. 13 July 1982 Annual call for nominations: . v ' ; 13·, 82 .. v \,..- -~ '\.. 63T4l ,t · u •. s .. A. l , . Number 3 Our by-laws state, 11 Election to membership on the Executive Board shall be preceded by the nomination of each candidate by at least tl1ree members and the willingness of each nominee to have his name placed on the ba 11 ot. 11 The board member whose first five-year term will expire this year, December 31, 1982 is James Leeds, our current president. Nominations for his continuation or replacement for a five year term are hereby re­ quested for placement on the ballot in October. Nominations should be submitted to Henry Hofstetter, 2615 Windermere Woods Drive, Bloomington, IN 47401. By all means do not hesitate to include yourself as a candidate if such responsibility challenges you. Remember, self-nominated volunteers founded the O.H.S., and unpaid volunteers have kept it going. The Patenaude imprint: Joseph Oliva Patenaude had a flourishing jewelry business in the town of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, which took him to many parts of the world in search of gems. He was also an optometrist, so listed in the Blue Books of Optometrists from 1920 to 1950. Near the close of World War I he had provided financial backing to a patented silver re­ fining process which met with infringement, a long legal battle in the highest Canadian court, and heavy losses, following which he practiced optometry exclusively. An aggressive advocate of the introduction of the silver dollar into Canadian currency, in 1935 he ordered a thousand of them and counterstamped each with his own initials, J.O.P., and dis­ tributed them as change in his practice. He continued to stamp his initials on silver dollars at least until 1949. He retired in 1950. This and more about Patenaude is written up in the March 2, 1982, issue of Numismatic Courier, page 10, published biweekly at 330 Bay Street, Suite 808, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 2S8, with a portrait of Patenaude and two illustrations of the silver dollar imprint. The article, entitled 11 The J.O.P. Counterstamp 11 , by Larry Gingras, describes Patenaude as a 11 kindly 11 man, a bachelor, ..... impossible that [he] could have entertained one unkind thought during the eighty-five years in which he graced the earth 11 • Though he persistently broke the law by 11 defacing our coinage 11 he 11 COuld not have understood his acts to be illegal ... He died May 9, 1956, and is buried in Nelson. -46- The article was sent to me by OHS member Alan York, O.D., who comments, 11They [the J.O.P. dollars] are very expensive today, much in demand by Cana­ dian collectors ... Dr. York adds, 11 I just gave a lecture at Optifair East on •collecting Antique Eyeglasses•. There is a great interest in this field. Present at the seminar were collectors from England, Mexico, and Italy. I hope to do it again soon ... Primitive autoinoculation for conjunctivitis: The following is excerpted from a recent letter written to me by a young African lady optometrist practicing in the town of Otjiwarongo, Namibia (South-West Africa), centered in the scrub-covered plateau border­ ing the Namib Desert and almost exclusively populated by tribal Africans at a sparsity of about two per square mile (less than 1 per square kilo­ meter): 11 I hope the bit which follows is not a bother. Please get me the answer if you know someone well informed in immunology. 11A small child suffers from purulent conjunctivitis. At an· early stage of the disease the mother makes two or so incisions (marks) on both cheeks just below the eyes so that some of the pus gets caught into these openings and thus the bacteria will find their way into the blood ·stream. After a few days the purulent conjunctivitis just disappears. In terms of auto-immunology .and such things what could be the explanation? 11 I am sure you are wondering why I am asking this. It has been a custom, or whatever you may call it, among our people, (the Africans) especially the Owambus, to treat children who are having any sort of eye infection. And they really do· believe that it works. I went home last month and asked my mother about it, and. she was adamant that it really does work. But she also admits that the marks have to be made very early, otherwise they would have no effect if done late. She also told me that the pus must be allowed to come in contact with the mark, otherwise is it use­ less. 11 I have been wondering about this for some time, but my knowl­ edge of immunology and antibodies is very limited, so I failed to figure it out myself. Perhaps unknown to themselves they have been practicing the principle of auto-immunology for centuries. I will be very thankful if you can obtain information on this for me. 11 Si ncere ly, 11 M.M. Uushona 11 • (P.O. Box 85, Otjiwarongo 9000, Namibia, South-West Africa) -47- On the instancy of i 11 umi nation: Those of us who were taught at the outset of our cartographic learn­ ing that the earth is spherical can easily be amused by the realization that some believe it to be flat. Analogously, those of us who were in­ formed in early infancy that light 11 travels 11 from one place to another, and had this reinforced a virtually infinite number of times by the very vocabulary thereto appertaining, have often been amused by some of the ancient concepts of vision which suggested sensory extensions from the eye to the objects seen. Having been so thoroughly indoctrinated, and faced with no apparent contradictions, we have difficulty appreciating the perplexity of the ancient hard-thinking philosopher who by no direct power of observation could 11 prove 11 that light was anything but an im­ mediately everywhere, instantaneously propagated, phenomenon. So it is that in the Book of Genesis we read that 11 God said 'Let there-be light,' and there was light ... It did not ''arrive 11 , 11 come 11 , or "shine"-,-nor was it "sent 11 ,"""ii(felivered 11 , "beamed 11 , 11 dispersed" or "radiated". The oc- currence of light was described only by conjugated forms of the verb "to be", just as for darkness. We of today were not taught that 11 dark­ ness" travels, so we continue to verbalize its occurrence and absence quite ambiguously in terms of direction or elapsed time, as did the ancients for both darkness and light. Prompting this bit of commentary is an article by Peter Marshall entitled "Nicole Oresme on the Nature, Reflection, and Speed of Light 11 in the September 1981 issue of ISIS, Vol. 72, No. 263, pages 357-374. According to Marshall, Oresme (ca:-1320"-1382) set out "to explain \'/hat light was and what it.meant for the medium to become instantly light­ bearing". Then Oresme attempted "to discuss the possible immediacy of illumination". 100 year old practice: On March 11 Sam H. Horner, Jr., O.D., celebrated the establishment of his practice of optometry at 40 Second Street, NW, Cleveland, Tennessee, by his grandfather in 1882 by hosting an open house for friends and well­ wishers. · Details of the event made the front page of the March 10 issue of the Cleveland Daily Banner and were further written up in the May 1 issue of the American Optometric Association News, Vol. 21, No.9, page 10. The anticipated fourth generation Horner optometrist is presently a student at the Pacific University College of Optometry. Did Diogenes do worse with his? In 1875 Danders devised a lantern to test for color vision defects. It was used by the Dutch Rail Authority. Prompted especially by the great expansion of railway systems a variety of lantern tests of color vision were subsequently designed by others to determine the fitness o.f people whose vocations required ability-to recognize signal colors. However, lantern tests are rarely to be found in clinical ophthalmic practice. Names of such lanterns included those of Edridge-Green (1891), -48- Williams (1892), Thomson (c. 1895), BOT (Board of Trade) (1913}, Martin (1939}, RCN (Royal Canadian Navy.) (1943}, SAM-CTT (School of Aviation Medicine Color Threshold Test} (1943), Giles-Archer (c. 1940), Farnsworth (1946), and Holmes-Wright (1974). Barry Cole and Algis J. Vingrys did a historical accounting of the origins of such lanterns and they analyzed the diagnostic validity of lantern-type tests of color vision in an extensive article entitled 11A Survey and Evaluation of Lantern Tests of Color Vision 11 in the April 1982 issue of the American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 346-374. Genuine eyewash: Our dictionaries tell us that eyewash is a slang word for nonsense, bunk, meaningless talk, drivel, or claptrap. How this connotation came about is apparent from the below-illustrated front and back of a card found by OHS President Leeds in one of the old books in his collection. ' .. I c;r1) DP... I~ \AC THOMPSON'S EJTE -~EJWAA~EB FOit ALL COMPLAINTS OF THE EYES. I .b,'1a..;/a Bfllt/1 u slt•"'l'd tCJitJ, III.J Ptllf'rutary StA~IIIj. .Vflne vtlur c;,.,,;,,, -----··-...... -·--· TRB O.KNUINE EYE WATER h cnfoh.led in an en~r ... vr,( envelope, on whil.b i1 the lik~uc:s& of _the Ort"'i_nal I~· veotor DB. IS.dA.O TIIUIJI.PSUN, NKw l.oNuON, CoNN,, wath a /•••_-m•ul< of his 'aianature: al:.o the 1i"naturc of joHI'I L. TuuM.r!ioN, wath a note ot hand, siKned by joHN L. THOMI'>ON, 161 ltivcr Succi, Troy, N. V. Not&e ull•er .,.,. .. o ..... ,.... . . Thi1 well-knowo and thoroughly cffiLicut rcmcJy h•~ aqu1rcd a w~rl_d-wu.le reputation, having been bc:fnrc the vuLlic for over _ea"hty_·live yean, a.utlat as Are~ uJark..Lble fact that its rc"'ut.ltion has been »U~touucd 111~1ply _Ly thc mel"iU uf elM JI'MClioit&re, a1 Lhc many Lhousandli, ._.hu have used It, w1ll bc..~.r tcaumooy. JTS MERITS STAND UNRIVALED. lo con1tant u~e tance 179S· Price ............ 26 Cent• per Bottle. JOHN L. THOMPSON. Prop'r, Troy, N. Y. There is no certain way to date the card except that 11 Dr. Isaac Thompson's Eye Water 11 is alleged in the legend to have been 11 In constant use since 1975 11 and to have been 11 before the public for over eighty-five years 11 • Unless the legend itself is 11eyewash 11 the card must then be from 1880 or later. -49- Hirschberg's history in translation: The following is taken directly from page 9 of the April 1982 issue, No. 9, of the Society for Ancient Medicine Newsletter: Frederick C. Blodi, MD~ is currently engaged in translating into English Julius Hirschberg's Geschichte der Augenheilkunde as The History of Ophthalmology. Originally published in 10 parts a--s-­ Vols. 12-15 of the Graefe-Saemisch Handbuch der gesamten Augen­ heilkunde, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1899-1918), the work will appear in English in about 11 volumes. Volume I is currently in press and should be available in the Autumn of 1982, with present plans to issue two or three volumes each year. The cost will be about $78.00 per volume, with the exception of Vol. I which is priced at $98.00 (pre-publication price quotations). Inquiries concerning the translation should be addressed to: Frederick C. Blodi, MD Department of Ophthalmology University of Iowa School of Medicine Iowa City, Iowa 52240 USA Pre-publication and subscription orders can be placed through: Felix Bloch, Bookseller P.O. Box 58 CH-1162 SAINT-PREX SHITZERLAND That unforgettable journalistic jolt: Any optometrist who was practicing, or enrolled in an optometry school, as was I, in 1937, remembers vividly where he was standing, sitting, or lying down when he learned about the optometrically infa~. mous Readers Digest article, an experience as incredibly shattering to him as the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the assassination of President Kennedy. In 1948 I devoted the following paragraph to the event on page 122 of my OPTOMETRY book: Late in 1937 the profession received an awakening blow from which it has not yet ceased to stagger. Like a bolt out of the blue there appeared in a nationally popular magazine28 which at that time was riding the crest of its popularity and which had become almost a daily guide to millions of readers, an extremely defamatory article about the nation's optometrists. In a most effective and convincing manner, and allegedly supported by docu­ mented statements and statistics, the author of the article led the reader through a step by step, but purportedly fruitless, search for the slightest trace of honesty and capability in any 28. Riis, Roger Hilliam: Optometry on Trial, Reader's Digest, Vol. 31, August 1937, pp. 77-85; September 1937, pp. 102- 104; October 1937, pp. 84-96. -50- optometrist anywhere. Even today no optometrist who was in practice at that time has forgotten the ordeal he sustained in the glare of the public eye. The subsequent half-hearted attempts on the part of the author of the article to present the actual facts in an unbiased manner afforded small comfort. Recently another optometrist of my vintage recalled the event, sug­ gesting that it might be of sufficient historical interest to younger per­ sons to reprint the original article in the N.O.H.S. or to distribute photo­ copies to the members. This I hesitate to do simply because the original is quite available in major public libraries. O.H.S. President Leeds has all three issues of the Readers Digest ih his collection, and copies are on file in the Indiana University Optometry Library, and at ILAMO, from which duplicates may be requested. Our global expansion: A new addition to our membership list is K. Issei Mori, M.D., Dean, AJOC Kikuchi College of Optometry, 2-5-5 Izumi Higashiku, Nagoya, Japan. Dr. Issei Mori is the son of the late Fumio Mory, who variously spelled the 11 Westernized 11 version of his name as Mori, Morey, Morry, or Morie in attempts to elicit our most accurate phonetic equivalent of the Japanese pronunciation. Three other new members in almost the same mail are: Michael D. Cook, O.D. P.O. Box 3234 0700 Pietersburg Republic of South Africa L. Pizza rdi 106 Boyd Street Cabramatta, 2166 Sydney, Australia Carl R. Golightly, O~D. 815 Washington Street Michigan City, IN 46360 Famous visual defectives: What did Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Herbert Morrison of Lambeth, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Rudyard Kipling, and Artur Rubenstein have in common? According to J.B. Addenbrooke Phillips they each had one or another visual shortcoming. What these involved and what difficulties were entailed are described in an article entitled 11 Some famous eyes 11 in the February 27, 1982 issue of The Ophthalmic Optician, Vol. 22, No. 5, page 162. -51- Disraeli, he says, was myopic and embarrassed himself when the Queen detected his peering at her through his manacle. Lord Morrison lost one eye i.n early infancy, was nicknamed "One Eye" by classmates, and was precluded form many active games. Nelson lost his left eye in a 1794 battle, and then in 1798 he thought he had lost the other eye in the Battle of the Nile, but it turned out to be a flap of flesh that had fallen over the right eye and temporarily blinded him. Kipling's high myopia in early childhood allowed him to attack an apple tree thinking it was his grandmother, and his thick glasses earned him the nickname 11 Giglamps 11 • Rubenstein, a nonagenerian, suffered diplopia and macular degeneration leading to severe loss of vision during his last decade, necessitating special aids to enable him to continue giving recitals. To honor visual scientists: The Edgar D. Tillyer Award was established by the Optical Society of America in 1953 with an endowment by the American Optical Corporation in recognition of Edgar D. Tillyer, D.Sc. (1881-1970) for his work in vision. The award consists of a citation and medal i.n Dr. Ti1lyer•s name presented bienially at a meeting of the Optical Society of America to persons who have 11 performed distinguished work in the field of vision, including (but not limited to) the optics, physiology, anatomy, or psy­ chology of the visual system 11 • This year, 1982, the award is made to a well known husband and wife research team, Leo M. Hurvich arid Dorothea M. Jameson 11 in recognition of the excellence of their research into the phenomena of vision in compre­ hensive reference to color perception, and especially for their distin­ guished pioneering work toward the establishment of a firm mathematical and scientific base for the now broadly accepted opponent color vision theory 11 • Following is a list of the prior recipients: 1954 Edgar D. Tillyer 1955 Adelbert Ames~ Jr. 1957 Charles Sheard 1959 Gertrude Rand Ferree 1961 Glenn A. Fry 1963 Clarence H. Graham 1965 ~~a 1 ter Stan 1 ey Sti 1 es 1967 Kenneth Neil Ogle 1969 Lorrin A. Riggs 1971 Louise L. Sloan 1972 Robert Merrill Boynton 1974 Yves LeGrand 1976 Floyd Ratliff 1978 Gerald Westheimer 1980 Fergus W. Campbell -52- Perspectivist optics: 11 Getting the Big Picture in Perspectivist Optics 11 is the title of an article by A. Mark Smith in the December 1981 issue of ISIS, Vol. 72, No. 264, pages 568-589. The front cover of this issue features the diagram be­ low, identified as taken from Gregor Reisch, M~rg~rita Philosophica (Basel, 1508), X, ii, 22. The intracranial sketch of a three-chambered brain is described in the article somewhat as follows: The anterior cell contains the sensus communis and the imaginativa, which combines the images retained in the imaginativa for use by the cogitativa. The second cell contains the cogitativa and the estimativa. The third chamber is the memorativa. Author Smith identifies perspectivist optics with four thirteenth century tracts, the mid-century Latin translation of Alhazen entitled 11 De AspectibUS 11 , Roger Bacon•s 1260 11 Perspectiva 11 , Witel0 1 S circa 1275 11 Perspectiva•~ and John Pecham•s circa 1278/1279 11 Perspectiva Comnunis 11 • -53- The Herbert Ives Centennial: Anyone who is familiar with the literature and technology of color­ imetry~ photometry~ illumination~ visual acuity~ flicker phenomena~ color vision color photography~ phosphorescence, critical flicker frequency, photoelectric effects, television~ stereoscopy, or cinematography can hardly be unaware of contributions of Herbert Eugene Ives (1882-1953), whose one hundredth birthday occurs this month, July 31. Recognition of his role in ortics is given in issue no. l, 1982, of Optics News, Vol. 8, pp. 9-13, by Richard Hazelett under the title "The Herbert Ives Centennial ... Included are photographs of Ives testing color television apparatus in 1929 and conversing with Herbert Hoover by television in 1927. Students of vi sua 1 science readily identify the name Ives \'lith the nouns acuity meter, colorimeter, gratings, test, and theory, for example, but few might realize that a majority of his well over 100 publications were significantly related to vision, as were several of his numerous patents. A very interesting and thorough account of his life and work by Oliver E. Buckley and Karl H. DarrO\>J may be found in the National Academy of Sciences Bi ographi ca 1 t~emoi rs, Vo 1. 29, ( 1956), pages 145- 189. Ives may well have been the world's number one contributor to visual science technology. First Recognition Certificate awarded: The first recipient of an Optometric Historical Society Recognition Certificate, described in the January issue of this newsletter, page 2, was William G. Austin, O.D. of Bismarck, South Dakota, whose accomplish­ ment was reported in the July 1, 1981, issue of the American Optometric Association News, Vol. 20, No. 13, page 5. The presentation was made to Dr. Austin in behalf of the Optometric Historical Society by James McAndrew, Jr., O.D., President of the North Dakota Optometric Association, at the an­ nual meeting of the association in April, 1982. Members and readers are invited to nominate others whom they deem de­ serving of similar recognition for their contribution to our awareness of optometry's history. Nominations should be accompanied by adequate and reliable documentation and description of the nominees' dedication. An ophthalmic optician memorialized: The Owen Aves Medal was created by the Yorkshire (England) Optical Society to memorialize Owen Aves, 1881-1929, whose constributions to the development of optometry were described by W.E. Hardy in the September 1979 issue of The Ophthalmic Optician, Vol. 19, No. 17, pp. 653-654. -54- Memorial to Walter 0. Studt, O.D.: Born in 1896 and graduated from the Los Angeles College of Optometry in 1919, the late Walter Studt created an irrevocable trust to endow a series of institutes or practicums for selected undergraduates and recent graduates of his alma mater, now the Southern California College of Op­ tometry. Trustees for the trust, now named The Doctor Walter 0. Studt Visual Testing and TheraPY Trust, are his son Donald Studt, 0.0., and Homer Hendrickson, O.D. Other optometrists memorialized: The Pennsylvania Optometric Association has established the~· Ward Ewalt, Jr., O.D., Lecture Series. In 1975 the Optometric Extension Program Foundation created the Knight-Henry Memorial Awards for undergraduate studies in optometry and development in honor of R. Wayne Knight, O.D., and W. Robert Henry, O.D. Making change: Alan York, O.D., informs us that on July 29, 1981, the President of the Republic of ItalY decreed the issuance of coins of 500 lira (approxi­ mately 40¢) denomination with the values imprinted in Braille. This is believed to be a first for coins. He adds that for several years Braille has been used on the paper money of Israel. Early knowledge of color: ~~~Jhat the Educated Person Knew About Color A.D. 1700 11 is the title of an article by ·Rolf G. Kuehni in the Winter, 1981, issue of COLOR Research and Application, Vol. 6, No. 4, pages 228-232. What was known at the end of the 17th century is discussed briefly and illustrated with a translation of Chapter VII, 11 De Lumine et Colore 11 , and the brief eye and vision portions of Chapter XIV dealing with the functions of the human body in a book on natural philosophy written by the Danish anatomist and physician Caspar Thomeson Bartholin (1655-1738). Bartholin had finished writing the book in 1692 but it was not published until 1703. The plan of the book, advises Kuehni, as well as the considerable amount of quotations from other authors, indicates that it is an abbrevi­ ated and encyclopedic view of the state of natural philosophy at the time of writing and that it, therefore, contains the knowledge of the educated person of its time (excepting, of course, a very few contemporaries like Newton, Boyle, Descartes, De La Chambre, Vossius, and Malebranche, who themselves were introducing a new level of understanding of color phenomena which had not yet pervaded the general science literature). -55- Kuehni supplements the translation of Bartholin with a brief review of six then prevalent categories of schools of thought in the matter of color as outlined by Boyle in 1665. 18th century assurances: Prompted by the article 11 Numismatic Optics 11 in the December issue of NOHS, pages 81-81, OHS member and historian D.C. Davidson of Sussex, England, wrote excerpted author George Berry, with a copy to us, to pro­ vide a few notes about early farthing-issuing opticians Radford, F. West, Gargory, Brown, and Philip from the manuscript of his yet to be published book on 11 Spectacles and Their Makers 11 • Included is the information that the Guildhall Library in the City of London has John Radford•s trade card, dated by the library C. 1770, which suggests that the business continued after the founder died. The card reads: The Great Golden spectacles over against the East End of Newchurch in the Strand, London. Radford•s True Ground Spectacles upon Brass Recommended by the Royal Society and used by the Royal Academy at Paris and the most learned artists in Europe. The Curious by their own Judge­ ment may discover the Perfection of his Spectacles, and others may depend on being fitted according to the Weakness of their· Eyes; provided they avoid the Shops of Toymen, Comb Makers and such Ignorant Pretenders, who scandalously impose upon the Word and their fake goods have ruined the Eyes of thousands. His Crystal Spectacles and Reading Glasses are neatly set in Leather, Horn, Tortoiseshell, Steel, Silver and Gold after the newest fash­ ion. He has the greatest Variety of Tools to suit the Sight of a 11 Persons; and the short sighted he fits the utmost exactness •. His Judgement in Optics has been examined by Authority and ap­ proved of. An atlas of early spectacles: Volumes I and II of the English edition of the three-volume series by W. Poulet, mentioned on page 10 of the January issue of this Newsletter (the N.O.H.S.), arrived just recently at my favorite library. Entitled 11Atlas on the History of Spectacles .. , the two sky-blue hardbound volumes, 30x22 em, one 3.9 and the other 3.6 em thick, weigh well over· five pounds ·each, totaling 4.75 kilograms, giving them the hefty feel of two book-size stone slabs. Translations of Dr. Wolfgang Pfeiffer•s foreword, Prof. Dr •. med H.W. Holtmann•s 11 A Short History of Spectacles 11 , Dr. Hans-~Jalter Roth•s 11A Contribution to the History of Contact Lenses 11 , and the illustration captions and identities are by Frederich C. Blodi, M.D. The two volumes are dated 1978 and published by J.P. Wayenborgh in Bonn, West Germany. The 396 + xxxv pages of Vol. 1 and the 505 pages of Vol. 2 are of very stiff glossy paper, the durable binding of which is quite impossible, demanding very gentle page turning, an extremely frequent necessity -56- because the illustration legends are separately listed at the back of Vol. 1 as the 11 Index 11 , and at the back of Vol. 2 as the 11Table of Contents 11 • In the Vol. 1 foreword Dr. Pfeiffer reports that 11 Carl Zeiss Company of Oberkochen in West Germany founded a museum for optical instruments in 1971 when the company celebrated its 125th anniversary 11 [Its 125 years ob­ viously include its prior existence in Jena, now under East German rule, where a separate 11 Zeiss 11 firm now operates]. The Oberkochen museum's core is the collection of Otto and Gustav Kroner, two Munich opticians. The museum is complemented by the collections of Zeiss, Zeiss-Ikon and Voigt­ lander plus the 11 Collection of the Viennese court optician, Waldstein 11 • Holtmann's history of spectacles in Vol. 1 is a very disappointing account with frequent mention of unfamiliar and often esoteric names, places, and events without specific reference citation, grossly inadequate for the scho 1 arly reader and defyi,ng understanding by even an i nte 11 i gent neophyte. His broadside listing of nine somewhat inadequately identified publications at the end is not as useful as a list one might obtain from almost any appropriate infonnation-retrieving computer system. It i·s con­ ceivable that the scholarly value of the· article was lost in what appears to be a very literal rather than interpretative translation, as might ex­ plain, for example, the inappropriate use of the preposition 11 0n 11 instead of 11 0f 11 in the title of the atlas itself. Roth's history of contact lenses, also in Vol. 1, is much the better piece of literature, though paradoxically so, inasmuch as neither Vol. 1 nor Vol. 2, nor the atlas title itself, includes contact lenses. Perhaps Vol. 3 will do so. He obviously undertook his assignment more thoroughly, though perhaps a bit superficially. For examples, he completely miscon­ strued Leonardo DaVinci's involvement in the concept of a contact lens resting directly on the eye, and he identified Tuohy as an 11 American op­ tometrist11. His reference resources totaled 23, some rather inadequately specified or unduly abbreviated, but clearly identified with points made in the text. Making up the bulk of Vol. 1 are 2,009 illustrations,_ serially numbered for reference to the brief legends in the INDEX, and prefixed with the letter B, M, or Z to indicate their belonging to the collection of Otto Hallauer (Berne), Pierre Marly (Paris), or Zeiss (Oberkochen) respectively. Each serial index number is further accompanied by a number in parentheses which presumably may be a filing number in the host collection. The serial se­ quence is essentially chronological by period with some subgrouping.i.n terms of design features. The photographs, roughly approximating real size in most instances, include spectacles, monocles, and spectacle containers, plus a few illustrations of guild and spectaclemaker insignia and escutch­ eons, caricatures, amulets, anatomical eye models, vignettes, portraits, engravings, paintings, correspondence, advertisements, and coins. Illus­ trations numbered 1,916 to 2,009 are in color. Vol. 2 carries the subtitle 11 The Arts and Spectacles over Five Cen­ turies11. It reproduces in black-and-white, in whole or in part, 264 paint­ ings, woodcuts, copper and steel engravings, and watercolors found in the most important art collections depicting various types of spectacles, with -57- the apparently identical visual aids on the opposing pages whenever they could be found in the B, M, or Z collections. Listed inconveniently and often annoyingly abbreviated in the back of the book are 21 references from which dates are derived, and a 11 Table of Contents 11 identifying the illustrations but not their institutional locations. The 264 illustra­ tions are subgrouped under the following categories: Nos. 1-23: 11 Spectacles in Paintings 11 Nos. 24-35 and 37-48: 11Anachronisms 11 No. 36 (A-P): (A draftsman's unexplained sketch of several early types of eyewear.) Nos. 49-156: 11 General Section .. Nos. 157-212: 11 Spectacles in Caricature 11 Nos. 213-235: 11 Fashion and Spectacles .. (showing the apparel of the fashionably dressed man or woman) Nos. 236-264: 11 Portraits 11 • Together these two volumes are a fine and authoritative atlas, but little else. Orthokeratology history taking shape: 11 0rthokeratology: Part I, historical perspective .. is the title of an article by Lynn J. ·coon, O.D., in the r~arch 1982 issue of the Journal of the American Optometric Association, Vol. 53, No. l, pp. 187-195. Ninety­ five references are listed, the earliest of which is for January 1958 • .!_!1_ love with an optometrist: Hardly dulcet, a bit harshly staccato, the word OPTOMETRIST is not one that a lyricist would be expected to use iambically to convey charm, romance, or euphoria •. But twenty years ago it happened in the musical comedy SHE LOVES ME which opened on Broadway at the Eugene o• Nei 11 Theater on April 23, 1963, with 302 performances following 38 prior try-outs which included the Shubert Theater in New Haven and the Forrest Theater in Phila­ delphia, plus subsequent performances in London. SHE LOVES r1E, music by Jerry Bock, lyric by Sheldon Harnick, had its origin in PARFUMERIE, a romantic comedy by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo in 1937 which was produced in 17 countries and translated into 11 languages, including a translation by Ernst Lubitsch in 1940 and written by Samson Raphaelson for the MGM film play entitled THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. The word 11 0ptome­ trist11, however, was introduced in the Broadway version by lyricist Sheldon Harnick for the musical number 11 A Trip to the Library 11 to be sung by Barbara Baxley playing 11Miss Ritter 11 , a comely clerk, 30ish, who wants a husband and decides she must camouflage her illiteracy by getting a library card. The following is the lyric sung, and sharply enunciated, some parts belted, to a lilting melody, describing her visit to the library: -58- And suddenly all of my confidence dribbled away with a pitiful flop My head was beginning to swim and my forehead was covered with cold perspiration. I started to reach for a book and my hand automatically came to a stop. I don't know how long I stood frozen, a victim of panic and mortifica- tion. Oh, how I wanted to flee, When a kindly voice, a gentle voice, whispered, 11 Pardon me 11 • And there was this dear, sweet, clearly respectable, thickly bespecta­ cled man Who stood by my side and quietly said to me, 11Ma'am, Don't mean to intrude but, I was just wondering, are you in need of some help? 11 · I said 11 No, -- y~s, I am ... The next thing I know I'm sipping hot chocolate and telling my troubles to Paul, Whose tender· brown eyes kept sending compassionate 1 oaks. A trip to the library has made a new girl of me, For suddenly I can see the magic of books. I have to admit that in back of my mind I was praying he wouldn't get fresh, And all of the while I was wondering why an illiterate girl should at- tract him. Then all of a sudden he said that I couldn't go wrong with The Way of All Flesh. Of course, it's a novel, but I didn't know, or I certainly wouldn't have smacked him. But he gave me a smile that I couldn't resist And I knew at once how much I liked this OPTOMETRIST. You know what this dear, sweet, lightly bespectacled gentleman said to me next? He said he could solve this problem of mine. I said 11 How? 11 • He said if I'd like he'd willingly read to me some of his favorite things. I said, 11 When? 11 He said, 11 Now ... His novel approach seemed highly suspicious and possibly dangerous, too. I told myself, 11 Wait, think, dare you go up to his flat? What happens if things go wrong? 11 He read to me all night long. Now, how about that! It's hard to believe how truly domestic and happily hopeful I feel. I picture my Paul there reading aloud as I cook. As long as he's there to read There's quite a good chance indeed, A chance that I'll never need ·To open a book. Unlike someone else, someone I dimly recall, I know he'll only have eyes for me, my OPTOMETRIST Paul. A personal handwritten note from Mr. Harnick, incidentally, assures us that he was responsible for inserting the word 11 0ptometrist 11 in the song. He adds, 11 By the way, when the show was done in London, I was told that the British don't use the word 'optometrist'. To the best of my recollection we solved the problem by substituting the phrase, 'My optician, my Paul."' -59- Although initially released on the MGM Records label, #E41180C-2, the album, She Loves Me, has been reissued on the DRG label #DS215008. It is currently available through music stores or from DRG Records, Inc., 200 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 at $9.99 plus $2.00 ship­ ping. My attention was called to this delightful musical by Professor Ronald Everson, 0.0., who also made the recording, as well as some of the background information, available to me. Van Orden memento to I~AMO: OHS member Mrs. Henry Quick of Owego, New York, recently donated to the International Library, Archives, and Museum of Optometry a twelve inch silver plate with the following inscription in the center, "Presented to MILLARD E. VAN ORDEN by the South Central Optometric Society in Recog­ nition of Faithful Service To The Profession of Optometry. Amicus Humani Generis October 16, 1961" (Oneida Silversmiths stamped on back of plate). The late Dr. Van Orden practiced optometry in Ithaca, New York. Frederick Booth became an optometrist: Writes Pat Carlson, Librarian, Southern California College of Optometry, u·upon receipt of the April OHS Newsletter I couldn•t stop myself from checking our collection of Blue Books to locate Frederick Booth. He ap­ pears in each edition from 1932 - 1942, but none thereafter. Only his name and address (113 Sanborn St., Michigan City, Indiana) is given." Mystery compounded: A perusal of the first issue of this newsletter, January 1970, dis­ closed the fact that Dr. Stephen M. Oppenheimer, then a senior student at the Southern College of Optometry, had written this very new society about the mysterious optometer which was described in much detail on pages 31-33 of our April 1982 issue. His had a 7.5 diopter lens in it, thus making it differ just a bit from any of the three described! At the time of his writing he had suggested that it might be a Prinz or Prince Rule, which, according to the Dictionary of Visual Science, it is not. Must its identification fade into complete oblivion? H.W Hofstetter, Editor O.K. Penisten, Editor-on-leave -60- THE OPTOMETRIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY 243 NORTH LINDBERGH BOULEVARD SAINT LOUIS. MISSOURI 63141 WHY BELONG TO THE OPT0t1ETRIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY? We 11!! The plainest reason, of course, is that this is a way to get involved in optometry's history. There are other reasons, of course, like getting the quarterly O.H.S. Newsletter, names and addresses of other optometric history buffs, frequent bits of historical information hard to come by othen~ise, and - - -, hang it, if you need more reasons, forget it, just like the 99% who really don't care. The Society offers no rewards, prestige, or easily displayed status symbols, -just simple membership at the nominal price of $5.00 per year. Perhaps it should be less, or more. The members can vote to change this, almost the only special privilege offered. SO, HHY NOT BELOtm TO THE OPTOMETRIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY! If you are not already enjoying membership just send your name and address and a five dollar check, or amend your will to· provide for a $1,000 legacy to the Society and get free membership for the rest of your life. Contributions to the Society are tax deductible in the U.S.A. 1982-13-03-001 1982-13-03-002 1982-13-03-003 1982-13-03-004 1982-13-03-005 1982-13-03-006 1982-13-03-007 1982-13-03-008 1982-13-03-009 1982-13-03-010 1982-13-03-011 1982-13-03-012 1982-13-03-013 1982-13-03-014 1982-13-03-015 1982-13-03-016